Hong Kong stocks led gains in the Asia-Pacific on Monday as China’s trade data fell far short of expectations, marking the first annual decline in exports since May 2020. Exports fell by 0.3% and imports also fell by 0.7% — a Reuters poll had forecasted a rise of 4.3% and 0.1% respectively.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 2.55% in the final hour of trade and the Hang Seng Tech index gained 3.88%. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite was fractionally higher while the Shenzhen Component gained 0.232%.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan closed 1.21% higher to close at 27,527.64 and the Topix also gained 0.98% to close at 1,934.09. In South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.99% to close at 2,371.79. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% higher in Australia to close at 6,933.7.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.3% higher.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 27872.11 | 344.47 | 1.25 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 16557.31 | -38.6 | -0.23 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 6958.9 | 0 | 0 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 3064.49 | -13.32 | -0.43 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2399.04 | 0 | 0 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 7170.81 | 84.8 | 1.2 |
Chinese health officials renewed its stance of sticking by strict measures, which is seen to dampen market sentiment after seeing soaring risk appetite last Friday with speculation of “conditional” plans for a reopening. Apple suppliers in the region are also in focus as the company warned Covid restrictions in China are hurting iPhone production.
U.S. and European markets rose on Friday on hopes the Federal Reserve would scale back future interest rate hikes following the latest jobs report, which marked the slowest pace of job gains since December 2020 despite stronger-than-expected growth.
Source: CNBC
